Well, it looks like members of the Legislature haven't taken our advice... yet. The battle over the 2008 budget continues, but word from Ken Bensen, Chair of the Living in Michigan campaign, gives us reason for hope:

"I am hopeful, every day that this budget debate rages on, that we are getting closer to funding. Senator Mark Jansen, the chair of the six person budget committee, is in contact with me almost daily. Today, the message from Senator Jansen is that the supporters of this fund need to reach out in big numbers and educate their legislators. That means you need to reach out today.

"This coalition has significant support in the right places within the legislature. What we are lacking is awareness in the entire legislature. Advocacy Day was many months ago and the issue of housing has been overshadowed by some other, more aggressive coalitions.

"One email from you will take five minutes. And if we all participate, we'll send thousands of emails. Thank you for your passion about affordable housing. This fund will help Michigan far beyond our lifetimes."

You can contact your State Representative here, and your State Senator here.

We have some updates to share from the Living in Michigan campaign.

Here's the lowdown:

The Coalition for Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund has a new strategy. On August 7th, the directors, CEOs, and presidents of the coalition organizations met at the State Capitol in Lansing to reshape the efforts of the grass roots coalition. The strategy to date had been to reach and influence a handful of senators in an effort to garner solid support among Republicans. With that mission complete, the job has now shifted. As the budget debate is coming to its peak, it is critical to create a mass awareness effort with all members of the house and the senate. Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is our new strategy.

It is time for every member on every level to act. In the next 50 days, we expect there will be a vote on the 2008 State Budget. There are several ways that Sen. Jansen and Rep. Tobocman have proposed MHCDF be funded. To ensure the success of these efforts, the coalition needs to ask every legislator to vote "yes" when they see or hear about the fund.

Our priorities have been laid out as follows:

1) Invite your legislator to see successful project in your home district. Show the economic impact and growth that comes from your work.

2) Visit you legislator in Lansing. Make an appointment and show him/her why this work will help them make a real difference in their district.

3) Write your legislator a letter, send an e-mail or call. There are customizable templates to make letters and e-mails super easy. Go to the Resources tab at www.livinginmichigan.org and look for the Member Tools for Legislative Meetings. There, you'll also find handy talking points and frequently asked questions to aid in any form of legislative contact.

4) Report your contacts and meeting highlights to your organization's lead contact person. Don't know who your contact person is? Watch for an upcoming action alert with those names.

Time is of the essence, folks. If we want to see the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund included in the 2008 budget, then now is the time to act!

Okay, so that headline reads like an ad, but the Old Town Commercial Association –– a network of Lansing-based businesses whom the Trust Fund has partnered with in the past –– needs your help!

Here are the details:

We are in the top ten for the IKEA makeover contest!!

What this means is now we are in the running for $50,000 in Ikea products and a $5,000 cash prize - and we need you and everyone you know to help! We have until August 22 to get as many votes as possible. You can vote for Old Town's video, titled "Old Town Lansing- Just a little past normal..." on the Ikea site. (Directions are below.) Voting will compromise 30% of the final decision made by Ikea judges. You can vote once per email address and tell your family and friends to do the same!

Thanks so much to Such Video, Redhead Design Studio, Preuss Pets, the Headroom Salon and Pablo's and everyone else in Old Town for all of their help with the video!

To vote in the contest and help Old Town to win a Main Street Makeover:

1. Visit www.ikea.com/business/mainstreet
2. Click on Old Town's video, titled "Old Town Lansing, Just a littlepast normal"
3. Click on the "Vote for this" blue button
4. Click on "Non-member, Join the contest. Register now"
5. Enter your email address & register
6. You will receive an email from Ikea to confirm the address
7. Click on the link and submit your vote
8. Cross your fingers and tell all your friends to vote for Old Town!

The video looks great, and with 1060 votes so far, OTCA is currently in the lead (a business called "All Dressed Up" in Illinois is in second place with only 639 votes). Even though our friends in Old Town are in a strong position to win the prize from Ikea, they still need your vote.

Watch the video, register for the contest, and place your vote. It only takes a couple minutes, and you'll be helping a great Michigan-based organization along the way. We promise you'll get a warm, fuzzy feeling by helping out!

Note: There are two other Michigan companies in the contest –– Synergy Soup Interactive and Black Lotus Brewing Co. –– although, they don't have anywhere near as many votes as OTCA. Which is why we still encourage you to go vote for them.

We just received the following update from the Living in Michigan coalition:

Insiders are telling the coalition that decisions on the FY 08 budget are going to be made in the next two weeks. It has never been more important that you contact (or re-contact) your legislators NOW! The timing is critical. Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund has been meeting with legislators and our efforts continue to gain momentum. Thanks to your hard work, we are now well-positioned to realize our objective of gaining state investment in housing and community development.

The next two weeks - this is our window of opportunity, one we may not get again!

Specifically, we need you to contact your legislator TODAY and set up a meeting to tell him or her how a $100-million-dollar fund will help your community. Your legislators need to know how this fund will make YOUR community a vibrant place where families want to live, work, play and retire. In addition, we need to generate as many e-mails or letters as possible over the next two weeks.

If you need any materials or assistance for your meeting, please contact Mark Pischea at 517-487-9320 or mpischea@rossmangroup.com. You can also visit www.LivingInMichigan.org for important information and materials. Click here for a useful form you can use to update the coalition on the outcome of your meeting.

It's been a while since we reported in about the Living in Michigan campaign. Well, today we got an update from the coalition that we wanted to share with our readers:

Contact your
legislator today

The state Legislature heard our collective voices at Advocacy Day: Lunch on the Lawn - 1500 strong! The meetings that you and others have had with state legislators is making a difference. Support for our mission is gaining momentum. But we have to keep it up. Please continue to meet with legislators and report all findings back to Mark Pischea at mpischea@rossmangroup.com. Our legislative contact form is now online. Click here to see it. We must keep pressure on the state legislature through this budget process - your participation has never been more important!

10 in 10

It is critical that we continue to register coalition members at our Web site, www.LivingInMichigan.org. We are launching a statewide push over the next 10 days for each member of our coalition to recruit and register 10 additional people to our cause. The more names we add to our coalition and the more voices that can be added to ours, make our message louder and more impactful. It is imperative that we continue this effort - new members can also sign up to send a postcard to their legislator right on the Web site. Please act today!

We Are Recruiting New Organizations

Let us know if you have an upcoming meeting with an organization that would be a good supporter of Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund. Someone from this coalition will either come and speak or help you build your own presentation. The coalition has recently added several statewide organizations to our membership list, and we are welcoming new members. All supporting member organizations will be listed on the Living in Michigan Web site with a link to their own site. We will also post any organization's relevant research or information that helps support the fulfillment of this fund.

Contact Lisa Smith at Lisa@donovanandsmith.com to schedule a speaker or request materials for new member organization recruiting.

We wanted to share this bit of news from the Living in Michigan campaign with our readers...

Our call for testimony on Thursday, May 10th has been cancelled. We have received a call from House Majority Leader Steve Tobocman's office stating the agenda for the 10th has been changed. There is no longer a need to show up. The meeting is still on the horizon and will likely take place in the next few weeks. You will receive word when we hear more.

However, as a reminder...

Things are heating up in the budget debate. The industry has rallied around its cause, and now we must support those who influence our legislators. Join us:

· Next Tuesday, May 8th, 2:30 p.m. at the Farnum Senate Office Building, (125 West Allegan St, Lansing MI, 48933, corner of Allegan and Capitol Ave.) - MSHDA will present before the Senate Commerce Committee.

There's still plenty of work to do. Thanks again to all the members of the coalition for your continued support!

From the Living in Michigan Campaign...

Things are moving along in the legislature. There are three things on the schedule that require our show of support.

The coalition for Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund needs to show support as MSHDA presents ...

We need you to be present for and fill out a card at the following sessions:

• This Thursday, May 3rd, 9 a.m. at the Anderson House Office Building (124 North Capitol Avenue, Lansing MI, 48933) - MSHDA will present before the House of Representatives Future Economy and Quality of Life Committee.

• Next Tuesday, May 8th, 2:30 p.m. at the Farnum Senate Office Building, (125 West Allegan St, Lansing MI, 48933, corner of Allegan and Capitol Ave) - MSHDA presents before the Senate Commerce Committee.
Two new Housing Trust Fund bills ...

• Next Thursday, May 10th, 9 a.m. at the Anderson House Office Building, (124 North Capitol Avenue, Lansing MI, 48933) - the coalition for Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund needs to show support as the Future Economy and Quality of Life Committee introduces two new Housing Trust Fund Bills. We can support Senator Tobocman by filling out cards that show support and by testifying in favor of the bills. The coalition will organize a group that can speak to represent our goals and objectives.

A few updates from the Living in Michigan campaign...

Volunteers Needed

If you're coming to Advocacy Day: Lunch on the Lawn and would be willing to volunteer, we'd love your help. Of course, you still get your free lunch as well as see this historic event come together from the inside out. We just need your name, phone number and e-mail by the end of the day today. Please email this information to laura@donovanandsmith.com. We look forward to working with you and having some fun during this historic event.

Advocacy Day: You Might Want to Know...

About parking. Although there is metered parking on the all streets around the Capitol square, it is not adequate to handle the number of attendees we expect. There are six parking ramps within three blocks of the Capitol. Here are their locations:

• Boji Parking Ramp at the corner of Capitol and Allegan
• Public Ramp at the corner of Townsend and Washtenaw
• City Parking Ramp at Capitol and Kalamazoo
• City Parking Ramp at the intersection of Allegan and Grand
• City Parking Ramp at Ottawa and Grand
• City Parking Ramp at Capitol and Shiawassee
• You can view a map of all available parking lots here

About buses. Buses may unload and park on the southwest side of Capitol Avenue, directly in front of the Capitol building. Meters will be capped in this area and marked "No Parking" in order to reserve this space for Advocacy Day buses only.

About legislators. If you haven't called your legislator to let him or her know you are coming on May 2nd, you should. We want for each of our lawmakers to respond by showing up to see you.

About Michigan Conference on
Affordable Housing Attendees. There will be a loop of handicap-accessible vans going from the Lansing Center to the Capitol. While we would love for the media to see hundreds of people walk from the Lansing Center to the Capitol, we recognize a three-block trek isn't possible for everyone. Therefore, we will have transportation available at the entrance to the Lansing Center. Additionally, conference attendees can stop by the Living In Michigan booth and make a colorful sign to wave during your walk from the Lansing Center to the Capitol.

As a follow-up to last week's hearing before the Michigan State House "New Economy and Quality of Life" Committee, representatives from MSHDA will be offering additional testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Economic Development tomorrow morning.

The meeting will be located at:

307 House Office Building
Lansing, MI, 9AM.

If you are a member of the Living in Michigan campaign, and will be in the Lansing area tomorrow, please feel free to come show your support for the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund.

Remember, if you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to join the coalition, register for Lunch on the Lawn, and contact your legislators.

Last week, we re-posed some talking points from the Living In Michigan campaign so coalition members could start making the case to their family, friends, co-workers and legislators for why we need to invest in the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund (MHCDF).

Well, after doing some more research online, we stumbled across this article from the Winter 2006 edition of Shelterforce: "The Case for a Right to Housing."

In the piece, Chester Hartman, co-editor of the book A Right to Housing, makes the case for a right to housing by putting it into the context with other rights Americans have come to expect. The entire article is worth a read, but this particular passage echoes the Living In Michigan campaign's case for the MHCDF quite nicely:

Housing is more than four walls and a roof: It is part of a neighborhood and community, providing opportunities for positive social interaction and safety from crime. Housing location affects access to quality schools, jobs and community services.

The societal costs - added health services to deal with housing-linked problems such as asthma, lead poisoning, rat bites, asphyxiation, communicable diseases; emergency fire and police services; crime and incarceration; services for the homeless; and so on - of not having decent, affordable housing for all are enormous and growing. A true cost-benefit analysis might show that not having a Right to Housing is far more costly, in economic terms alone, than not implementing such a right.

Remember, if you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to join the coalition, register for Lunch on the Lawn, and contact your legislators.

When the Living in Michigan campaign updated their website a little over a week ago, they added quite a bit of information about affordable housing for folks who may still be unfamiliar with the issue.

While most of us in the affordable housing industry already have a good sense of why our work is important, we still need to be familiar with these talking points so we can make the case –– to our family, friends, co-workers, and legislators –– that now is the time to invest in the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund:

• According to Governing Magazine: Michigan is ranked 48th in the country on a per capita basis for its state revenue support of affordable housing.
  
• As this issue is now on the table for Michigan, 38 states have already decided to help address their critical housing needs by establishing housing trust funds.
  
• Michigan is not attracting businesses because we are not providing them with the real incentive to which they will respond — to be a partner with a vibrant, creative state with momentum.
  
• The Housing and Community Development Fund would leverage additional funding from public and private sources. It is estimated that housing projects will have a 1:3 ratio and community development projects a 1:2 ratio.
  
• Thus, a $100 million program (80% for housing/20% for community development) will leverage an additional investment of $280 million, create over 6,000 good paying jobs and generate approximately $21 million in state and local taxes!
  
• If Michigan's economy is to experience true transformation, there must be a connection between the creation of jobs and the availability of safe, high quality, affordably priced housing.
  
• In Michigan, data shows that 36% of our homeless families are working. Families with a single female as the head of household comprise 59% of those families. And sadly, 56% of homeless persons in families were children — most under the age of 10.
  
• If we do not make affordable housing available to these children and families, there is a greater likelihood that they will remain homeless as adults. If we do not choose to make affordable housing available to these children and families, the future cost to support them through public services will be devastating - placing a burden on Michigan’s taxpayers that will increase each year.

If you support the Living in Michigan campaign, then be sure to join the coalition, contact your legislators, and register for Lunch on the Lawn at the Capitol on May 2. We'll see you there!

The Living In Michigan website got a bit of a facelift over the weekend, and has some cool new features.

For example, you can now send postcards to your State Representatives and Senators to let them know that you support the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund:

Your message is vital to persuading your legislator(s). Take a moment to choose a postcard that best reflects your message, and fill out the information requested. Your participation is essential to building a case with the state legislature, and your legislator(s) in particular, that Michigan needs to populate the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund.

Basically all you need to do is head over to the postcard page, pick out one of the postcards, fill out the form with your contact information (to identify the legislators that represent your districts), and send it off.

When you're done, be sure to send the link to your family, friends, and business associates, and encourage them to join the coalition and contact their own legislators.

Our goal is to have a large turnout – with constituents from across the state – for Lunch on the Lawn at the State Capitol on May 2. By contacting your legislators with these postcards and reminding them about the event, we hope to demonstrate a broad base of support for the MHCDF.

Remember, if you know anyone without internet access who may need help registering for Lunch on the Lawn or sending a postcard to their elected officials, please refer them to Zack in our Lansing office, who can sign them up over the phone: 517.372.6001 x1827